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What You Need to Know About the Latest Background Screening Trends

Background screening has been around for ages. However, as many job seekers are realizing, the Internet is making it that much easier for employers to learn about your employment and criminal history (along with your personal life) at the click of a button.

According to the Trends in Employment Background Screening survey by EmployeeScreenIQ, background checks have increased in importance among employers. Background screening is a critical piece of hiring the right employee and avoiding costly mistakes. The latest trends are as follows:

Revealing adverse information: 92 percent of employers will reach out to a candidate or consider job relevance when a background check reveals something negative about that individual. A mere 8 percent say they reject a candidate outright.

Credit checks: Most employers only check credit history when it’s relevant to the job. One-third of employers don’t perform them at all.

Hiring decisions: Qualifications and interviews are the leading influencer in making hiring decisions. Background screening results are just one element in making a hiring decision.

Social networking: 66 percent of respondents never check Facebook, LinkedIn and other sites for conducting background checks.

Automated hiring decision matrices: Only 15 percent of respondents believe in the value of automated hiring decision matrices; 81 percent don’t use them or are unfamiliar with the concept.

Timing of background screening: 43 percent of employers stated they perform a background check before extending an offer to the final candidate(s); 39 percent perform checks post-offer.

The report recognizes today’s employers face a lot of issues with background checks, including “an influx of state and federal laws, increased scrutiny of hiring practices by the EEOC, and new but relatively untested screening tools such as socia media.”

What else do today’s job seekers need to know about background screening?

Heather R. Huhman, founder & president of Come Recommended, is passionate about helping students and recent college graduates pursue their dream careers.